"Alright you have to be good. I don't even know why the hell I brought you? Oh, yeah they are fumigating." A woman stared at Nick; who seemed to be talking to himself. "I can't believe I'm doing this. This messes with my manhood." Nick was holding tight to a large black leather Louis Vuitton bag that hung loosely from his shoulders.
He entered the bakery and was quickly greeted by the short older woman behind the counter. "Hello. You must be...Nick Carter."
Nick opened his mouth to speak. Squeak.
The woman looked at him a bit surprised and then her eyes narrowed on the bag. Squeak. Squeak. She tilted her head and smiled. She was hypnotized by the small beady eyes looking back at her. "Sir, you can't have dogs in here..."
"I know. Believe me this is NOT fun for me. I had no choice..."
Abby walked in, wiping her forehead. "I can't believe how hot it is out there." She fanned herself and looked from the lady to Nick and down at the bag. "What the heck is that?"
"It's a dog."
"Which he can't have in here." The woman stated.
Abby pursed her lips to stop from giggling. "I didn't know you had a dog. Actually, I didn't think of you as a toy dog...kinda guy." She couldn't hold it anymore and broke out in a chuckle.
Nick's eyebrows were scrunched up and his mouth was in a straight line. "Are you laughing at me? Hey, I couldn't just leave Pixie at home when they are fumigating."
Another burst of laughter erupted from Abby; she was holding her side. Her eyes traveled to the bag and out popped a fuzzy tan and beige colored snout, followed by a tiny face and beady eyes. Squeak.
Although she was laughing; she found it awfully cute that Nick would put his manliness aside and carry around a bag with a tiny dog in it.
Nick felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment. Truth was at first he hadn't wanted the itty bitty damn dog either. What was he supposed to do when his rather bubbly girlfriend had appeared at his house with a double gift that had turned out to be the man bag and a tiny puppy that fit in his hand. Damn the dog.
Abby rolled her eyes and then pointed at the outdoor patio. "Would it be ok if we do it outside?"
The woman shook her head and disappeared through a door behind the counter. Nick was smirking as he looked at Abby. "You're late!"
She turned her head and gave him a glare. "I was only a bit late...anyways, this is your wedding. Not mine."
The threesome took a seat outside. Nick sat the bag on the long table and took out the small tanned Pomeranian. She had pink bows on each of her ears, a pink t-shirt that read 'princess' on it and to top it off some pink boots. Nick tried to avoid eye contact with either of the women and pretended to browse through the catalog.
The older woman and Abby just smiled at each other and decided to make no comment. The woman began by talking about their most common designs and decorations. She spoke of Tiffany stopping by to let her know what designs and flavors she was interested in having.
"So, if you two will excuse me I will go prepare the cake slices for tasting. Excuse me." The woman swung the door open and walked out.
"Holy shit!" Nick muttered.
"What is it?" Abby asked, concerned.
"Wouldn't it just be cheaper to go to Wal-Mart and get a couple of white cakes and stack them up. Throw on some flowers and that little couple on the top." He looked around to see if anyone was listening. "This cake is 8,000 dollars. What's it made out of...gold?"
"This isn't your big fat redneck wedding, Nick. So pick one. Isn't my dad paying for it, anyway?"
He scowled, "As a matter of fact...no! We are splitting the costs. I'm using my savings." The thought of all his hard earned money going towards a cake was really aggravating.
"I thought you were saving for--"
"I don't want to talk about it Abby. Please."
She just nodded. She remembered that during one of their late night conversations he'd gone on about a gym around where he lived and how he was saving to buy it off the owner. Now, that money was going to an overly fancy wedding, which didn't seem to be something he wanted.
"If you wanted a small wedding...you should have suggested it."
His blue eyes looked up at her. "It's Tiffany's day! She decides what goes."
"That's a load of crap!"
"Why do you like to push my buttons!" He growled.
"I'm not!" She really wasn't. "I was just trying to make conversation..."
"Well how about you don't. We aren't trying to be friends or anything--"
"What is wrong with you? Why are you so angry at me? I'm not the one that lied...look we are supposed to work together, so we should get along. Seriously, you are the biggest mood swinger I've ever known."
Squeak. Squeak.
"See I've got my bodyguard..." Nick commented.
"She sounds like a chew toy!"
The twosome were interrupted by the woman at the door. "Alright everything is set up. If you can please put the dog inside the bag and just make sure it doesn't get out. We can do it inside." Nick agreed and carefully placed Pixie back in her bag.
They entered a small showcase room filled with different types of cakes. At the end was a long narrow metal counter and three stools. Nick sat the bag on the stool in the middle and asked Pixie to be good and stay in the bag. She instantly disappeared.
"She's probably the only female that listens to me." Nick joked.
"Most likely because she's a dog!"
Nick pondered the comment for a bit and shrugged it off. He smiled as the baker came out with a tray with eight different slices of cake and another with different types of flowers. It wouldn't make up for food, but his stomach was bound to start growling soon.
"So, when Tiffany came by she picked four different flavors. The first one we have here is tutti frutti...the name says it all. It's lavished in all kinds of fruits."
The twosome took their plates from the counter. Abby cut a good chunk from her slice and savored it slowly. The lady wasn't kidding when she'd said it was fruity. Crunchy peach slices, tart strawberries and a couple of sourly sweet blueberries. "It's really good." She commented, wiping at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. She looked at Nick waiting for his response.
Nick's plate was clean and his lip was curled in dissatisfaction. "This reminds me of a kiddy party. NEXT!"
The woman passed out the second plate. She went into detail on how Tiffany had been fascinated with that particular flavor; chocolate gannage. Nick devoured that one too, but he wasn't too satisfied. At the time a sandwich would have been much better.
"This is the one!" He commented, munching on his last bite.
Abby's slice was still there and only the tip had been eaten. She couldn't imagine the whole cake being chocolate flavored; it was her least favorite. "Nick, you are supposed to try them all. Drink some water."
He didn't want water. He wanted to hurry up and go eat. Squeak. Squeak. And by the sounds of it; so did Pixie. Nick watched as the woman passed out the third flavor, he liked the color and what he saw in the center.
Abby saw the slice and took the first bite. It was just the perfect combination of raspberry and white chocolate; her eyes automatically closed as the second bite of heaven hit her mouth...it was divine.
Nick had fixed his eyes on Abby in the middle of the woman's description. He was amused at Abby's reaction to a slice of cake. By the looks of it; she hadn't even waited for the description of the cake. Her eyes were now closed and her jaw was moving slowly.
He smiled taking in the moment. "Um...do you need a cigarette now?" He teased.
She jumped at the sound of his voice, knocked the bag with pixie in it over and off the little furry thing scurried.
"Oh my God!" She screeched.
"PIXIE!" Nick shouted.
"My cakes!"
The threesome ran around and around trying to catch the small dog, but they had no luck. They were all out of breath and were convinced they'd lost her. Her squeaking had stopped and the place was completely quiet; with exception of Abby's huffing and puffing and the phone ringing. The woman ran off to answer it; not without warning them to be careful with her cakes.
"What? I'm...not...athletic."
"Could've fooled me!"
"Is this time for jokes? She's your dog...you should train her."
Nick pressed his finger to his lips and motioned her to walk. The twosome quietly walked towards the slurping sounds coming from the showcase of cakes. Abby and Nick stood in shock as they watched Pixie paw-deep in a blue baby shower cake, which was missing the candy baby's head.
"Pixie...NO!" Nick lunged at the dog; arms flailing, but she leaped off the counter just in time and Nick ended up hugging the cake. There was blue cake on his white shirt, his arms, hands and some on his chin.
Abby was in a fit of laughter right behind him. This was turning out to be quite the day. She watched as Nick turned around slowly. He was covered in cake and she thought he looked pretty handsome wearing it too. Her smile disappeared as she felt Nick's hand smear cake on her cheek.
"No. You. Didn't." She looked around and grabbed at a bright yellow cake shaped as a sunflower. She raised her hand to throw it at him, but he took hold of her arm, spun her around and pinned her to the showcase. Then, once again smeared her with cake.
"That's not fair." She yelped.
"Life's not fair!" He chuckled. "Let go of the cake!"
"No way!" She giggled. "I can't see...there is icing in my eyes."
With one swipe of his finger; her eyes were freed from the icing and she could see him. She hadn't really noticed how close he was and how his face was inches away from hers. His eyes met with hers and time stood still for a bit.
"Oh my showcase! My cakes!" The twosome broke eye contact and Nick quickly backed away. "This is why animals are not allowed in here." The woman was red-faced as she went on and on with her rant. Nick apologized profusely as he started to scoop up cake off the floor and dumped it onto the glass case. He wasn't sure that was helping. Abby just smiled and apologized just as well.
A whole thirty minutes later. After a thousand apologies, a couple of compliments on the cakes and even some mopping. The twosome were outside in a fit of laughter; covered in cake.
"Wow! I'm glad she wasn't too pissed to take our order. Tiffany would have killed us." Nick said.
"Oh I know. I was worried. Quite the day." Silence filled the air. "Um...I think I should go and get this cake off."
"Yeah...me too."
"Alright...I'll see you tomorrow then." She turned around slowly and started walking.
Nick let out a deep breath. "Abby?"
Abby turned around and raised her eyebrows in question. "Yeah?"
He wasn't sure why he was doing it. Maybe, it was just because she was going to be part of his life and he had to get along with her. Maybe, because deep down inside he liked spending time with her. It didn't matter...at least not at the time.
"You wanna have lunch with me?"
Abby smiled and nervously pushed a strand of icing covered hair behind her ear. "Sure, I would like that."
Nick smiled as they walked next to each other down the street.